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DRIVER OF NEW SPECIES. “It has long been hypothesized that TEs could drive host diversification, reinforce population divergence, and promote reproductive isolation (for instance through processes akin to hybrid dysgenesis), ultimately leading to speciation.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

VIRAL IMPACT ON EVOLUTION. “Recent large-scale analyses suggest that HTT is pervasive in plants and animals and instrumental to the long-term evolutionary persistence of most types of TE.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

TOO MUCH JARGON. The key for the remainder of today’s posts. (ERV= Endogenous retroviruses); (TE = transposable elements, jumping genes); (HT = horizontal transfer); (HTT = horizontal transfer of TEs). View in LinkedIn

FOREIGN GENE CONTRIBUTION. “In insects for example, it was estimated that ∼2% of the nuclear genome on average (and up to 24%) derives from horizontally-transferred TEs, a figure that likely remains a gross underestimate. The picture is similar in bats where at least 6% of the Myotis lucifugus genome derives from horizontally-acquired Helitrons.” (TE = transposable elements, jumping genes). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

INNOVATION AND MALFUNCTION. “Numerous studies in mammalian genomes showing how ERV-derived sequences have been a recurrent source of new coding or regulatory sequences promoting a multitude of cellular functions as well as dysfunctions.” (ERV= Endogenous retroviruses). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

NON-VERTICAL TRANSFER. “Because HT is often responsible for the initial colonization of genomes by TEs, HT must be regarded as an important process in eukaryotic evolution.” (TE = transposable elements, jumping genes); (HT = horizontal transfer). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

FACE OF JANUS. “TEs have shaped eukaryotic genomes deeply and in myriads ways. Their movement and repetitive nature represent a potent source of genomic variation and genetic disorders.” (TE = transposable elements, jumping genes). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

FACILITATED TRANSFER. “An increasing number of HTT events have been inferred to have occurred between parasites and their hosts, such as between blood-feeding insects and vertebrates, lampreys and teleost fishes, or nematodes and birds.” (HTT = horizontal transfer of jumping genes, TEs). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

INVASIVE GENETIC ELEMENTS. “Viruses represent a substantial source of genetic material assimilated by eukaryotic genomes, and the boundary between endogenous viruses and transposable elements is becoming increasingly blurry in favor of the notion of a dynamic continuum of invasive genetic elements.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

ENORMOUS SPREAD. “The phylogeny of ERV lineages in vertebrates indicates that they have undergone more than 1000 HT events at the host family level, thus the number of HTs is likely to be extremely high at the species-level across vertebrate diversity.” (ERV= Endogenous retroviruses); (HT = horizontal gene transfer). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn